Repositioning of Market Information on Trading Screens

ABSTRACT

As market conditions descend or ascend an axis of prices, the display of market information is repositioned, at a pre-determined rate if desired, around an item of interest. An item of interest may include the best bid price, the best ask price, the inside market, a moving average, a last traded price, a theoretical value, the result of an equation, or some other item of interest to the trader. According to the present embodiments, market information may be displayed in a region relative to an axis of prices, and when an event occurs, a repositioning signal is initialized causing the axis to be repositioned such that the item of interest is positioned at a pre-determined location in the region. The price axis can be repositioned at a fixed rate or at a dynamically variable rate.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/566,117, which was filed on Sep. 24, 2009, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/415,407, now U.S. Pat. No.7,613,651, which was filed on May 1, 2006, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/609,965, now U.S. Pat. No.7,587,357, which was filed on Jun. 30, 2003, the contents of which arefully incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention is directed towards electronic trading, and morespecifically, is directed to repositioning market information fordisplay on a trading screen and is directed to trading in such adisplay.

BACKGROUND

Typically, an electronic exchange provides an automatic matching processbetween traders, or more specifically, between buyers and sellers.Traders are connected to an electronic exchange by way of acommunication link to facilitate electronic messaging between themselvesand the exchange. Market information, which is included in themessaging, is received and displayed to the traders on their tradingscreens. Upon viewing the market information, traders can take certainactions including the action of sending buy or sell orders to theexchange.

In general, when a buy order or a sell order is sent to an electronicexchange, the exchange's computer logic checks the conditions associatedwith the order, for example price and quantity, and determines if amatch exists. If a match does not exist, the exchange's computer logicprioritizes the order with other orders of the same price in theexchange's electronic order book. When the order conditions aresatisfied in the market, or equivalently, a match exists, a tradeoccurs.

In many instances, spotting an opportunity in the market andcapitalizing on it before the competition often separates those traderswho are successful from those traders who are not. An importantcomponent in capitalizing on an opportunity involves the efficientassimilation of market information. Most conventional tradingapplications receive electronic messaging and attempt to display themarket information in some particular fashion to the trader. Untilrecently, however, market information was simply displayed on a tradingscreen in a manner similar to how it was received from the exchangewithout much customization or formatting. Now developers are beginningto create sophisticated trading screens to interface electronicexchanges. Depending on the actual layout, however, some trading screensare more successful than others in displaying market information to thetraders.

To be a successful trader in electronic markets, one must be able toassimilate large amounts of market information and react accordinglymore quickly than other competing market participants. It is thereforedesirable to improve the way market information is displayed to thetrader and to improve the efficiency of order entry by using suchdisplays.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates an electronic trading systemshowing an example network connection between client devices andelectronic exchanges;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates a software/hardware overviewof an example client device for use in a system such as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a flat-panel display and its screen to illustratehow a trading interface of the present embodiments may be viewed in awindow by a trader;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart that illustrates an example process ofrepositioning a price axis to center an item of interest in a displayregion;

FIG. 5 shows a price axis with example prices and a generic item ofinterest to illustrate the use of limits;

FIG. 6 shows an example trading interface with a price axis such thatthe price axis may be moved in a smooth and continuous fashion toposition items of interest;

FIG. 7 shows an example trading interface with a price axis used indisplaying market information wherein the inside market is currentlycentered in a display region;

FIG. 8 shows the trading interface of FIG. 7, except that some timelater the inside market has moved up in value and has moved along theprice axis;

FIG. 9 shows the trading interface of FIG. 7, except that the insidemarket has been repositioned in the center or near the center of thedisplay region;

FIG. 10 shows an example trading interface with a price axis used indisplaying market information wherein the moving average is currentlycentered in the display region;

FIG. 11 shows the trading interface of FIG. 10, except that some timelater the moving average has increased in value and has moved along theprice axis; and

FIG. 12 shows the trading interface of FIG. 10, except that the movingaverage has been repositioned in the center or near the center of thedisplay region.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present embodiments build on the price axis and re-centeringconcepts described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/590,692,entitled “Click Based Trading With Intuitive Grid Display of MarketDepth,” filed on Jun. 9, 2000, U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/971,087, entitled “Click Based Trading With Intuitive Grid Display OfMarket Depth And Price Consolidation,” filed on Oct. 5, 2001, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/125,894, entitled “Trading Tools forElectronic Trading,” filed on Apr. 19, 2002, and in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/376,417, entitled “A System and Method forTrading and Displaying Market Information in an Electronic TradingEnvironment,” filed on Feb. 28, 2003, the contents of each areincorporated by reference herein.

I. Overview

The way in which market information is displayed to the trader is vitalto the success of trading electronically. If the information displayedis confusing or does not provide traders with what they need, theirperformance can degrade. Therefore, a trading interface is provided thattakes advantage of a computer's graphics capabilities to make thedisplay of market information easier to visualize and analyze. As aresult, traders can make better visual judgments to detect markettrends.

In particular, a trader may be interested in a specific item ofinterest. An item of interest may include the best bid price, the bestask price, the inside market, a moving average, a last traded price, atheoretical value, the result of an equation, or some other item ofinterest to the trader. Then, market information may be displayed in aregion relative to an axis of prices, and upon receiving a repositioningsignal, the axis is repositioned such that the selected item of interestis centered in the region. Repositioning the price axis also causes themarket information to move concurrently.

The repositioning signal may be initialized by an event. An event mayinclude any change in value of the item of interest. For example, atrader might select as an item of interest a 10-day moving average ofthe last traded price. When the 10-day moving average changes from onevalue to another, the signal is initialized causing the price axis to berepositioned. Alternatively, an event may include any changes in valueof the item of interest where the magnitude of the change falls outsideof a particular tolerance level, which is defined by one or more limits.Using the 10-day moving average example to illustrate this alternativeembodiment, assume that the 10-day moving average has to change by “5”price units before the signal is initialized causing the price axis tobe repositioned. Of course, any number of limits may be set to obtainthe appropriate tolerance level(s).

In addition, the price axis may be repositioned at a particular rate.The rate is the speed at which the price axis is shifted such that thedisplay screen goes from displaying one view of the price axis toanother view. It is envisioned that the repositioning may occur at anyrate. For example, at one end of the spectrum, the rate may be instant(or near instant), and at the other end of the spectrum, the rate may begradual such that the price axis and indicators smoothly glide from oneview to another, so as not to distract the trader and to avoid errors inorder entry, if order entry is provided. One or more rates may be chosenby the trader or hard-coded, which might depend on the options given bythe applications software. Also, a rate may be dynamically variable orfixed.

The price axis may be repositioned such that the selected item ofinterest is centered in a region. Of course, depending on thegranularity of the displayed price scale and the item of interest, theitem of interest may not always lie directly in the center of theregion. Additionally, it also envisioned that the price axis may berepositioned in a smooth and continuous fashion so that the item ofinterest can be directly centered or directly positioned at the desireddestination location. This is particularly useful when the item ofinterest is associated with a price level that can fall between twomarked price levels. Also, if programmed to do so, the item of interestmay be positioned in a location different from the center of the region.Because the price axis can be repositioned along the price axis in asmooth and continuous fashion, the item of interest can be positioned inan infinite number of locations along the price axis.

One skilled in the art of trading would appreciate the benefits of thepresent embodiments and could recognize its advantages from theteachings described herein. Some advantages include the efficient marketinformation assimilation by the trader and minimal memory load on thetrader. In addition, the present embodiments relieve the need to readand interpret strictly alphanumeric data by displaying marketinformation graphically along a price axis while placing particularemphasis on the item of interest. Yet another advantage is that therepositioning rate may be set to a slow enough speed so as not todistract the trader when a repositioning occurs. A slow repositioningrate may augment the assimilation of market information by enhancing themovement of the market according to some item of interest. Moreover, theprice axis may be repositioned in a continuous manner such that theprice axis and indicators smoothly glide from the one view to anotherview. In addition to displaying market information, the format of thedisplay may be directly linked to data entry including order entry.These advantages and more become readily apparent from reading thedescription below.

The present embodiments now will be described more fully hereinafterwith reference to the accompanying Figures. The present embodiments maybe embodied in many different forms and should not be construed aslimited to the embodiments set forth herein.

II. Preferred System Architecture

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates an electronic trading system100 in accordance with the present embodiments. The system 100 includesone or more exchanges 102, 104, 106 and one or more client devices 108,110, 112. Intermediate devices such as gateways 114, 116, 118, routers(not shown in the Figure for sake of clarity), and other such types ofnetwork devices may be used to connect network 120 to networks 122, 124,126 so that client devices 108, 110, 112 and exchanges 102, 104, 106 cancommunicate market information. It should be understood that the presentembodiments are not limited to any particular system configuration. Forexample, networks 122, 124, and 126 could represent the same network,network 120 could represent the same network as networks 122, 124, and126, or client devices 108, 110, 112 could connect separately togateways 114, 116, 118. Of course, the present embodiments may beimplemented on many other system configurations.

A. Exchange

Exchanges 102, 104, 106 may represent any exchange that participates inelectronic trading. The London International Financial Futures andOptions Exchange (LIFFE), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the NewYork Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), theExchange Electronic Trading (“Xetra,” a German stock exchange), and theEuropean Exchange (“Eurex”) are examples of exchanges that participatein electronic trading. Exchanges 102, 104, 106 might also refer to otherfacilities, which include basic to complex systems that automaticallymatch incoming orders. These example exchanges and other exchanges arewell known in the art. Communication protocols required for connectivityto one of these exchanges are also well known in the art.

Exchanges 102, 104, 106 allow traders to log onto a market to tradetradable objects. As used herein, the term “tradable objects,” referssimply to anything that can be traded with a quantity and/or price. Itincludes, but is not limited to, all types of tradable objects such asfinancial products, which can include, for example, stocks, options,bonds, futures, currency, and warrants, as well as funds, derivativesand collections of the foregoing, and all types of commodities, such asgrains, energy, and metals. The tradable object may be “real,” such asproducts that are listed by an exchange for trading, or “synthetic,”such as a combination of real products that is created by the user. Atradable object could actually be a combination of other tradableobject, such as a class of tradable objects.

An exchange 102, 104, 106 can implement numerous types of orderexecution algorithms, sometimes the type of algorithm depends on thetradable object being traded. Preferably, the preferred embodiments canbe adapted by one skilled in the art to work with any particular orderexecution algorithm. Some example order execution algorithms includefirst-in-first-out and pro rata algorithms. The first-in-first-out(FIFO) algorithm, used for some markets listed with Eurex for example,gives priority to the first person to place an order. The pro rataalgorithm, used for some markets listed with LIFFE for example, splitsall orders for the same price. The present invention is not limited toany particular type of order execution algorithm.

Regardless of the type of order execution algorithm used, each exchange102, 104, 106 preferably provides similar types of information tosubscribing client devices 108, 110, 112. Market information may includedata that represents just the inside market. The inside market is thelowest sell price (best ask) and the highest buy price (best bid) at aparticular point in time. Market information may also include marketdepth. Market depth refers to quantities available at the inside marketand can also refer to quantities available at other prices away from theinside market. The quantity available at a given price level is usuallyprovided by the host exchange in aggregate sums. In other words, anexchange usually provides the total buy quantity and the total sellquantity available in the market at a particular price level in its datafeed. The extent of the market depth available to a trader usuallydepends on the exchange. For instance, some exchanges provide marketdepth for all (or most) price levels, while some provide only quantitiesassociated with the inside market, and others may provide no marketdepth at all. Additionally, exchanges 102, 104, 106 can offer othertypes of market information such as the last traded price (LTP), thelast traded quantity (LTQ), and order fill information.

B. Gateway

Gateways 114, 116, 118 are devices such as a mainframe, superminicomputer, minicomputer, workstation, or microcomputer that connectnetwork 120 to networks 122, 124, 126 so that market information can besuccessfully passed between client devices 108, 110, 112 and exchanges102, 104, 106. Gateways 114, 116, 118 receive market information fromexchanges 102, 104, 106 and convert it to a form compatible with theprotocols used by client devices 108, 110, 112 using conversiontechniques known in the art. Also, as known by those skilled in the art,gateways 114, 116, 118 may have one or more servers to support the datafeeds, such as a price server for processing price information, an orderserver for processing order information, and a fill server forprocessing fill information. A trader at one of client devices 108, 110,112 can subscribe to price information, order information, and fillinformation for a particular market hosted at exchanges 102, 104, 106.Gateways 114, 116, 118 also receive transaction information, such asorders, order changes, queries, etc. from client devices 108, 110, 112and forward that information to corresponding exchanges 102, 104, 106.

C. Client Device

Client devices 108, 110, 112 are devices that provide an interface fortraders to trade at one or more markets listed with one, some, or all ofexchanges 102, 104, 106. Some examples of client devices include apersonal computer, laptop computer, hand-held computer, and so forth.Client devices 108, 110, 112, according to the preferred embodiments,include at least a processor and memory. The processor and memory, whichare both well-known computer components, are not shown in the Figure forsake of clarity. Preferably, the processor has enough processing powerto handle and process the various types of market information. Ofcourse, the more market information that is received and processed, themore processing power is preferred. However, any present day processorhas enough capability to perform at least the most basic part of thepresent invention.

Memory may include computer readable medium. The term computer readablemedium, as used herein, refers to any medium that participates inproviding instructions to processor for execution. Such a medium maytake many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media,volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, forexample, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device. Volatilemedia includes dynamic memory, such as main memory or RAM (random accessmemory). Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, afloppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any othermagnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, papertape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM,and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, and any other memory chip or cartridge, or anyother medium from which a computer can read.

Client devices 108, 110, 112 receive market information from any ofexchanges 102, 104, 106. Market information is displayed to thetrader(s) on the visual output device or display device. Upon viewingthe market information or a portion thereof, a trader may wish to sendorders to an exchange, cancel orders in a market, change orders in amarket, query an exchange, and so on. To do so, the trader may inputvarious commands or signals into the client device 104, for example, byusing one or more conventional means for inputting information such astyping into a keyboard, inputting commands through a mouse, or inputtingcommands or signals through some other well-known multi-purpose inputdevice.

Upon receiving one or more commands or signals, client devices 108, 110,112 preferably generate transaction information. For instance, a tradermay press a key or button to initiate an order to buy a tradable object.Then, transaction information would include an order to buy a particularquantity of the tradable object at a particular price. There are manydifferent types of messages and/or order types that can be submitted toan electronic exchange, all of which may be considered various types oftransaction information. Once generated, transaction information is sentfrom client device 104 to host exchange 102 over network(s) 120, 122,124, 126.

FIG. 2 shows an overview of client device 200 which may be similar tothe type of client devices 108, 110, 112 shown in FIG. 1. Client device200 can be any particular type of computing device, examples of whichwere enumerated above with respect to the client devices. According tothe preferred embodiments, client device 200 has trading application 202stored in memory that when executed it may arrange and display marketinformation in many particular ways, usually depending on how the traderprefers to view the information. Preferably, trading application 202 hasaccess to market information through API 204 (or application programminginterface) and trading application 202 can forward transactioninformation to exchange 210 via API 204. Alternatively, API 204 could bedistributed so that a portion of the API rests on the client device 200and a gateway, or at the exchange 210.

III. Event Driven Repositioning of a Price Axis

FIG. 3 shows an example monitor 300 and display screen 302 for use withthe present embodiments. In the Figure, monitor 300 resembles anLCD-based or a gas plasma-based flat-panel often used with desktopcomputers or docking stations for laptop computers. However, any monitoror display device (e.g., display device represented by block 214 in FIG.2) on which images may be generated can be used. Therefore, it should beunderstood that the present embodiments are not limited to anyparticular type of display device, but for sake of illustration someexample display devices include a cathode ray tube (CRT), a projector oruse of multiple projectors to create a tiled display with overlappingprojection, a display made up of light emitting diodes (LEDs), or theyinclude some other type of known technology. Monitor 300 and displayscreen 302 may range in size from very small to accommodate a smallhand-held device to very large to accommodate a large public display.

Display screen 302 is the visual output of monitor 300. In general,display screen 302 remains static while other elements on the screen 302can change. For example, window borders 304, 306 on the display screen302 can change depending on the user's preferences. Window borders 304,306 surround portions of the display screen 302 that can contain its owndocument or message and may be re-sized or moved around the displayscreen 302. According to some operating systems like Microsoft Windows®and its variations, the display screen 302 can be divided into more thanone window, each of which has its own boundaries and can containdifferent market information (or another view into the same market). Forsake of illustration, two windows formed by window borders 304, 306 areshown in display screen 302, although any number of windows may bedisplayed. In addition, the trading windows defined by borders 304, 306may be made smaller or larger and dragged across display screen 302 tosuit the needs of the trader.

Market information may be displayed in a window relative to an axis ofprices. For example, market information can be displayed in eitherwindow defined by borders 304 or 306, relative to an axis of pricesassociated with that window. More specifically, a window may have one ormore regions that are aligned with a price axis. For example, a regionmight contain indicators that represent bid information and anotherregion might contain indicators that represent ask information. The bidregion and the ask region may be aligned with the axis of prices. Then,when changes in the market occur, the trader can visualize them bywatching indicators in the regions move along the price axis. For abetter understanding of the price axis and how it relates to particularregions, the reader may refer to the above-incorporated patentapplications. Additionally, trading window examples, which show a priceaxis, are described herein with respect to FIGS. 6-12. Trading windowexamples shown in FIGS. 6-12 may also include order entry capabilities,however, it should be understood that the trading interface of thepresent embodiments could be used only for displaying marketinformation.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart that illustrates a process for repositioning aprice axis to center an item of interest in a region. The flowchartshown in FIG. 4 provides an illustrative description for repositioning aprice axis, and more or fewer steps may be included in the flowchart,and/or steps may occur in one or more orders that are different from theorder of steps shown in the Figure. Some example variations are includedin the description of the various blocks shown in the Figure.

At block 400, a trader can preferably select an item of interest. Anitem of interest may include the best bid price, the best ask price, theinside market (both the best bid price and the best ask price), a movingaverage, a last traded price, a theoretical value, or any other type ofindicator(s) that a trader may find of particular interest. An item ofinterest may be a value that is received from an exchange through itselectronic messaging. For instance, some exchanges provide, among otherthings, the inside market in its electronic messaging or price feed. Itis also possible that the item of interest has a value that is equal tothe result of an expression of an equation or algorithm, where theresult can be equal to the expression in the equation, greater than theexpression in the equation, or less than the expression in the equation,depending on the operator used. For example, a 5-hour moving average ofthe inside market is an example of a solution to an equation where thealgorithm averages the inside market over the previous five hours. Ifthere is more than one item of interest, then it might be desirable toallow a trader to select one item of interest from a list of options.

If tracking more than one item of interest is preferred, then thepresent embodiments may be programmed to allow for selection of morethan one item of interest at any given time. For example, a trader mightbe interested in the inside market and a 1-month moving average of theinside market. Then, the present embodiments can reposition the priceaxis based on the inside market and the 1-month moving average of theinside market.

At block 402, an event occurs which triggers the repositioning signal toreposition the price axis. An event may include any change in value ofthe item of interest(s). An example was given earlier with respect to a10-day moving average. As soon as the 10-day moving average changed fromone value to the next, the signal was initialized and the price axis wasrepositioned. The 10-day moving average is an example of an item ofinterest being generated by an equation. For another example of anevent, assume that a trader selected the last traded price as the itemof interest and it was last viewed at “105.” Shortly thereafter, thelast traded price changed to “107.” The change from “105” to “107” maybe a programmed event that triggers the repositioning signal to cause arepositioning of the price axis. This last example showed a change froma whole number to another whole number; however, an event might alsoinclude an instance where the item of interest changed in onlyfractional increments. According to the preceding example, the value ofthe item of interest changing from “105” to “105.1” is one illustration.This is also assuming that the software tracks (or the exchangeprovides) the last traded price in “0.1” increments. In addition, anevent may be caused by a change equal to the smallest increment ofchange possible by the item of interest.

There might be instances when a trader does not want the price axis tobe repositioned every time a change to the item of interest occurs.Therefore, it might be advantageous to provide additional inputs thatcan be used to determine when the price axis is to be repositioned. FIG.5 shows an example to illustrate the possibilities of additional inputsand how they may be applied in accordance with the present embodiments.

In general, FIG. 5 shows region 500 with price axis 502 having pricesfrom “119” to “134” in one-tick increments and a generic item ofinterest referred to as “A.” FIG. 5 also shows a limit set at “125” anda limit set at “128.” The limit(s) may be chosen by the trader or hardcoded in the software whichever is preferred. If the limit is chosen bythe trader, an entry field may be provided to enter in the limits.Alternatively, a slider bar could be provided. Then, for each limit aslider bar may be dragged up or down along the price axis to indicatethe number of units of movement that are acceptable by the item ofinterest before the price axis is repositioned. According to the exampleshown in FIG. 5, the limits may be set to provide more tolerance inmovement by the item of interest. When the item of interest “A” movesoutside/beyond one of those limits, the price axis is repositioned.Additionally, the limits may be set so that the price axis isrepositioned every time the item of interest moves or changes.

It should also be understood that any number of limits might be appliedto accommodate various levels of reposition rates. For example, a limitcould be placed at “128,” “131” and “off-screen” such that when thevalue of the item of interest falls between “128” and “131” the priceaxis is repositioned at one-rate, when the value falls between “131” and“off-screen” the price axis is repositioned at a second-rate, and whenthe value is greater than “off-screen” the price axis is reposition at athird-rate. The number of combinations of limits and rates that can beset according to the present embodiments are virtually endless.

If more than one item of interest was selected, then an event occurswhen one of the items of interest changes in value or when one of theitems of interest moves outside of a boundary, whichever mode is used.Also, it might be possible that each item of interest uses a differentmode. For example, an event might occur when the value of one item ofinterest changes and another event might occur when the value of asecond item of interest moves outside of a boundary. If the value ofboth items of interest changes or moves simultaneously, then each changeor movement may be programmed to cause an event. Alternatively, when thevalue to both items of interest changes or moves simultaneously, onlythe larger change or movement causes an event. Of course, these conceptsmay be equally applied to situations when more than two items ofinterest are selected.

It should also be understood that the repositioning signal might betriggered by a trader wishing to manually repositioning the price axisby selecting a repositioning button or icon. If this option is provided,it is preferable that the process of manually repositioning the priceaxis can occur at any time the repositioning button or icon is selected.

At block 404, the price axis is repositioned in response to the signal.The signal can simply be the occurrence of an event. For instance, flagbits may be used to signal when the price axis is repositioned. Theprice axis is preferably repositioned such that the item of interest iscentered in a region, or if desired, the price axis is repositioned suchthat the item of interest is positioned at another location that isdifferent from the center. If the location is different from the center,the trader could select the location that the item of interest should bepositioned. Note that it is also possible for a second event to occurwhile the price axis is being repositioned in response to the firstevent. In such circumstances, it is preferred that the price axis isrepositioned according to the second event. Therefore, repositioning theprice axis to a destination position based on the most recent event ispreferred as it takes into account the most recent value of the item ofinterest.

Referring again to FIG. 5, the concepts set forth in blocks 402 and 404are illustrated. In this instance, assume that at some time greater thantime “T” the item of interest A jumped to A′, which is at a price levelof “131.” However, price level “131” is outside of the upper limit, orin this example, “128.” As a result, the price axis would berepositioned so that the A′ is positioned back into the center of theregion 500 (or some other designated reference point if not in thecenter of the region).

So far, when a designated event occurs, a repositioning signal isinitiated and the price axis is repositioned. In addition, the priceaxis may be repositioned at a designated rate. Previously stated, therate is the speed at which the price axis is shifted such that thewindow goes from showing one view of the price axis to another view. Therate can include a range of speeds from instantaneously repositioningthe price axis to very slowly repositioning the price axis. The rate maybe defined as the number of pixels per time unit or by some measurementof speed. Although not shown in FIG. 4, the step of selecting a rate (orrates, if more than one rate is used) may be added to the process.

According to the present embodiments, the rate can be variable or fixed.If the rate is variable, then as the price axis is repositioned, thespeed at which the repositioning occurs may dynamically change. Forexample, the rate of repositioning might be fast and as the item ofinterest moves closer to the destination position, the rate mightdecrease. The variable rate might be set up by a trader or through somespecific algorithm (e.g., if the value is “off-screen” then the priceaxis is moved at 200 pixels per second otherwise the price axis is movedat 50 pixels per second). If the rate is fixed, then as the price axisis repositioned, the speed at which the repositioning occurs will notchange regardless of whether the change in value was large or small.

According to another embodiment, the rate is determined based on acertain parameter or parameters. For example, parameters might include aminimum rate while the item of interest is on-screen, a minimum ratewhile the item of interest is off-screen, a maximum rate while item ofinterest is on-screen, a maximum rate while item of interest isoff-screen, or the distance from the current position to thedestination, with a smooth rate destination. To illustrate, if the itemof interest has moved off-screen, then the rate might be faster than ifthe item of interest had moved a little off-center. The presentembodiments are preferably flexible enough to allow the trader to set upvarious limits and rates (variable/fixed) that correspond to thoselimits.

The reposition rate may also be adjustable based on other parameterssuch as maximum acceleration of the rate. This parameter can be employedwhen the display is being positioned and another signaling event occurswhile the positioning is still occurring, or if the other factors in avariable rate of repositioning have changed. Either situation would havean old rate and a newly calculated rate, perhaps even in the oppositedirection. The maximum acceleration of the rate may be used to smoothlytransition between the two rates.

Other enhancements may be used to provide the trader with increasedflexibility in market views. For example, the reposition may beaccompanied by a zoom in/zoom out of the market, or similarly, a changeof price scale. Zooming in and zooming out may be useful during periodsof rapid market movement. In addition, this self scaling feature couldaid the viewer by zooming out on the price axis to prevent the marketfrom “running off the screen,” and as the item of interest is movedcloser to its destination position the display could zoom back in toeither the previous zoom level or a preset zoom level of the price axis.

In addition to zooming out and zooming in, the present embodiments mightlink the display to a second display of the same market. The display ofthe second market could use a larger scale with graphical meansdepicting the space occupied by the primary display. In particular, thesecond display could show an overview of the market, while the primarydisplay could show a more detailed look at the market information nearthe item of interest, or vice versa.

Sometimes a trader might have an interest in more than one market. Forinstance, the trader might have an interest in trading spreads. A spreadhas two or more underlying tradable objects. To view the activity ofeach underlying tradable object market, the trader might have a tradingwindow open on a screen for each of them. Each window may have aseparate price axis against which market information is displayed.According to the present embodiments, the price axis of each window maybe repositioned when a specified event occurs. For example, an eventmight occur in one market that causes the price axes of all otherassociated windows to reposition. To illustrate, assume that a trader istrading a two-legged spread. The trader has three windows displayed onthe screen; one window for the spread market, a second window for thebuy leg and a third window for the sell leg. Assume also that a 1-hourmoving average of the spread inside market is the item of interest. Whenthe 1-hour moving average changes, the price axis in the first window isrepositioned. Moreover, the price axes of the second and third windowsare also repositioned to display relevant market views. Spread tradingis described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/137,979, entitled“System and Method for Performing Automatic Spread Trading,” filed onMay 3, 2002. Of course, the present embodiments are not limited tospread trading, but can be used anytime when markets are preferablygrouped together.

Some additional examples are now provided to illustrate some concepts ofthe present embodiments.

A. EXAMPLE 1

FIG. 6 shows a trading interface 600 for displaying market informationalong a price axis 608 in region 610. Price axis 608 and variations ofprice axis 608 are described in the above incorporated U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/590,692, entitled “Click Based Trading WithIntuitive Grid Display of Market Depth,” and in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/376,417, entitled “A System and Method for Trading andDisplaying Market Information in an Electronic Trading Environment.”

As a brief overview, price values situated along the price axis 608 arestatically displayed. That is, the price levels do not normally changepositions unless a re-centering, repositioning or other user initiatedcommand is received. The indicators displayed in other regions, such asbid quantity display region 604 and ask quantity display region 606, aredynamic. For example, they move up and down along the price axis 608 toreflect the inside market and/or market depth for the given tradableobject. So, for example, when the inside market moves up in price,quantities populate the appropriate price levels which using thepreferred display shows that the inside market has just moved up.Similarly, when the inside market moves down in price such thatquantities populate the appropriate price levels which shows that theinside market has just moved down. Additionally, quantity valuesdisplayed in the bid and ask regions 604, 606 are dynamic in the sensethat the actual quantity itself may go up or down in magnitude at aparticular price level. Regardless of whether the price axis is straightor curved, horizontal or vertical (or oriented any other angle), thedisplay and trading methods of the present embodiments preferably allowthe trader to better visualize movement in the market more quickly.

According to FIG. 6, the movement of the price axis is smooth andcontinuous. That is, the price axis can be variably positioned in anylocation to center the item of interest in a region and not have to“snap” from one marked price level to another marked price level. Toillustrate, assume for the moment that the item of interest is the lasttraded price that is currently at “128.5,” which is not a marked pricelevel. As a result, the price axis 608 is positioned such that the lasttraded price is directly in the center 612. Notice that only partialviews of the price “136” at 614 and price “121” at 616 are shown. Thisis because the trading interface according to this embodiment allowssmooth and continuous movement of the price axis, and therefore, apartial display of price levels along price axis 608 may result.

In addition, it should be understood that the actual prices do notnecessarily have to be displayed. According to this embodiment, it ispossible to center the market information on the last traded pricewithout the need for displaying the price levels. The bid quantities andthe ask quantities would remain in the same positions in their regions604, 606.

B. EXAMPLE 2

This example illustrates when the event consists of the inside marketmoving outside a set limit. FIGS. 7-9 show a trading interface 700 fordisplaying market information along a price axis 708 in region 710. Ofcourse, the limit can be set to any value, but for sake of illustrationthis example assumes a limit set at three ticks away from the top (or atthe top ⅕^(th) of the region if the movement of the price axis is smoothand continuous like that shown in FIG. 6) and at three ticks away fromthe bottom (or at the bottom ⅕^(th) of the region if the movement of theprice axis is smooth and continuous like that shown in FIG. 6). For thisexample, when one of the inside market prices moves outside of a limit,the price axis is repositioned. Another possible way to set limitsinclude when the average of the inside market (the average of the bestask and the best bid) moves outside of either limit.

According to FIG. 7, the inside market and the quantities available atthe inside market are centered, or near centered, in the display regions704, 706 and 708. In other words, a portion of the price axis from price“139” to price “153” is viewed such that the current inside market price“145” and price “147” are displayed in the center or near center oftheir respective regions. Of course, the inside market may berepositioned to a designated location rather than centering, such asoffsetting the inside market above or below the center of their regions.

FIG. 8 shows the trading interface 700 of FIG. 7, except that some timelater, the inside market has moved up in value along the price axis to“148” and “151.” At this instant the inside market is off-center and thebest ask price has just moved outside of the pre-set limit. Therefore, asignal to reposition is initialized.

FIG. 9 shows the trading interface 700 of FIG. 7 with the same marketinformation as shown in FIG. 8, except that the inside market has beenre-centered so that inside market indicators are centered in displayregions 704 and 706. According to the present embodiments, once theinside market reaches a designated location or becomes out of view inthe display region 710, another portion of the price axis is shown indisplay region 710. In particular, prices from price “142” to price“156” are displayed so that the item of interest is centered in itsregion(s).

In another embodiment, the reposition operation does not necessarilycenter the inside market, but positions the market based on a predictivemodel. For example, using the previous market values, the price axismight be positioned so that the inside market is “off-center” to allowfor more space on one side (e.g., buy side or sell side) for the marketto continue to move in the direction predicted by the model.

The display of market information may be repositioned at apre-determined rate. According to one embodiment, the pre-determinedrate may be dynamically adjustable, based on a number of parameters(e.g., minimum rate while the inside market is on-screen, minimum ratewhile the inside market is off-screen, maximum rate while market ison-screen, maximum rate while market is off-screen, or the distance fromthe current position to the destination with a smooth ratedestination.). Alternatively, the pre-determined rate is equal to somefixed, hard-coded rate. Regardless of whether the pre-determined rate isadjustable or fixed, it is preferred that the rate may be set slowenough relative to the movement caused by changes in the market suchthat the view of the market as a whole along the axis of prices is notdisturbed to the trader. Being able to set the rate of repositioning toa slow rate is especially important if the item of interest experienceslarge and sudden changes. Under such circumstances, the slowrepositioning may actually enhance the visualization of the market trendby allowing a trader to see the movement of the price axis at it isrepositioned. In addition, sometimes it might be of little significanceto set a slow rate especially if the item of interest experiences smallchanges.

C. EXAMPLE 3

This example illustrates when the event consists of a moving average.According to FIG. 10, the moving average price is centered, or nearcentered, in the display region 1010. More particularly, a portion ofthe price axis from price “120” to price “134” is viewed in displayregion 1010 such that the current moving average price “127” isdisplayed in the center or near center. The moving average may berepositioned to a designated location rather than centering, such asoffsetting the inside market above or below the center of display region1010.

FIG. 11 shows the trading interface 1000 of FIG. 10, except that sometime later, the moving average has moved up in value along the priceaxis to “129.” At this instant the inside market is off-center and hasmoved outside of the pre-set limit. Therefore, a signal to reposition isinitialized.

FIG. 12 shows the trading interface 1000 of FIG. 10 with the same marketinformation as shown in FIG. 11, except that the moving average has beenre-centered in the display region 1010. According to the preferredembodiments, once the moving average reaches a designated location orbecomes out of view in the display region 1010, another portion of theprice axis is shown in display region 1010. In particular, prices fromprice “122” to price “136” are displayed in the center or near center.

According to the present embodiments, the repositioning rate may be setslow enough to augment the assimilation of market information byenhancing the movement in the movement according to some chose criteriaor item of interest. For example, a trader would visualize the movingaverage moving up the price axis indicating that the moving average isincreasing in value. Preferably, when the price axis is repositioned,the axis would slowly be repositioned such that the moving average wouldreturn to the center of the display. The trader would visually recognizethe moving average has increased in value and can easily see the nextchange in moving average. Moreover, by centering around the movingaverage, for example, the trader would know if he or she is tradingabove or below the moving average by trading above or below the centeredaverage.

IV. CONCLUSION

Assimilation of market information is important to the success of thetrader. According to the preferred embodiments, market information isdisplayed relative to an axis of prices and the information is centeredon the chosen item of interest. As market conditions move along the axisof prices, the display of market information may be repositioned, at aselected rate if so desired, around the item of interest. By centeringmarket information around the item of interest, a trader may assimilatethe market information more efficiently. In addition, the repositioningof the price axis may occur at some rate. The rate may be dynamicallyvariable or fixed. The rate may range in speeds from instantaneouslyrepositioning to very slow repositioning. Preferably, the rate may beset slow enough to augment the assimilation of market information byenhancing the movement in the market according to some chose criteria oritem of interest.

The present embodiments utilize a price axis. Displaying marketinformation in relation to a price axis allows for exceptional marketfeel and an intuitive sense of where the market is headed. By using avertically aligned axis of prices, for example, when the inside marketmoves up in value, the inside market indicators move up the axis and thewhen the inside market moves down in value, the inside market indicatorsmove down the axis. Of course, the price axis may be aligned in otherdirections besides vertically, such as horizontally, for example. As aresult of moving along an axis, the preferred embodiments may beutilized to gradually and continuously reposition the price axis and themarket information concurrently, so that a more desirable portion of theprice axis and the market information can be viewed.

It should be understood that the programs, processes, methods andapparatus described herein are not related or limited to any particulartype of computer or network apparatus (hardware or software), unlessindicated otherwise. Various types of general purpose or specializedcomputer apparatus may be used with or perform operations in accordancewith the teachings described herein. While various elements of thepreferred embodiments have been described as being implemented insoftware, in other embodiments hardware or firmware implementations mayalternatively be used, and vice-versa.

In view of the wide variety of embodiments to which the principles ofthe present invention can be applied, it should be understood that theillustrated embodiments are examples only, and should not be taken aslimiting the scope of the present invention. For example, the steps ofthe flow diagrams may be taken in sequences other than those described,and more, fewer or other elements may be used in the block diagrams.

The claims should not be read as limited to the described order orelements unless stated to that effect. Thus, all variations that comewithin the scope and spirit of the following claims and equivalentsthereto are claimed as the invention.

1. A computer readable medium having instructions stored therein, whichwhen executed by a processor cause the processor to carry out actscomprising: displaying a display region having a plurality of axiallyaligned price levels, where an item of interest is displayed along theplurality of axially aligned price levels according to a value of theitem of interest; initiating repositioning of the plurality of axiallyaligned price levels in response to detecting a first change in thevalue of the item of interest; detecting a second change in the value ofthe item of interest subsequent to the first change in value of the itemof interest and subsequent to initiating repositioning of the pluralityof axially aligned price levels; and repositioning the plurality ofaxially aligned price levels based on the second change, wheresubsequent to repositioning the plurality of axially aligned pricelevels, the item of interest is displayed relative to a designatedlocation in the display region.
 2. The computer readable medium of claim1 where the item of interest represents any of: a best bid price, a bestask price, a moving average of the inside market, a last traded price,and combinations thereof
 3. The computer readable medium of claim 1,further comprising the act of determining the value of the item ofinterest according to an equation.
 4. The computer readable medium ofclaim 1 where the item of interest comprises a user defined indicator.5. The computer readable medium of claim 1 where repositioning theplurality of axially aligned price levels based on the second changecomprises centering the item of interest relative to the display region.6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 where the designated locationis off-centered relative to the display region.
 7. The computer readablemedium of claim 1 further comprising the act of repositioning theplurality of price levels at a predetermined rate.
 8. The computerreadable medium of claim 7 where the predetermined rate comprises speedsbetween substantially 50 pixels per second and substantially 200 pixelsper second.
 9. The computer readable medium of claim 7 where thepredetermined rate comprises any of a fixed rate and a variable rate.10. The computer readable medium of claim 9 where the variable ratechanges based on any of the item of interest being repositioned, alocation of the item of interest, and combinations thereof.
 11. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 1, where the acts further comprisedisplaying an order entry region comprising a plurality of order entrylocations, where each order entry location of the plurality of orderentry location corresponds to at least one of the plurality of axiallyaligned price levels.
 12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherethe acts further comprise: receiving a user command via at least oneorder entry location; and initiating placement of a trade orderresponsive to receiving the user command, where the trade ordercomprises an order price determined according to a price levelcorresponding to the at least one order entry location.
 13. The computerreadable medium of claim 12 where the user command comprises selectingthe at least one order entry location via a single action of a userinput device.
 14. The computer readable medium of claim 12 where thesingle action includes any of a single click of the user input deviceand a double click of the user input device.
 15. The computer readablemedium of claim 12 further comprising setting a plurality of orderparameters in response to receiving the user command.
 16. A method forrepositioning market information comprising: displaying, via a computerdevice, a display region having a plurality of axially aligned pricelevels, where an item of interest is displayed along the plurality ofaxially aligned price levels according to a value of the item of item ofinterest; initiating, via the computer device, repositioning of theplurality of axially aligned price levels in response to detecting afirst change in the value of the item of interest; detecting, via thecomputer device, a second change in the value of the item of interestsubsequent to the first change in value of the item of interest andsubsequent to initiating repositioning of the plurality of axiallyaligned price levels; and repositioning, via the computer device, theplurality of axially aligned price levels based on the second change,where subsequent to repositioning the plurality of axially aligned pricelevels, the item of interest is displayed relative to a designatedlocation in the display region.
 17. The method of claim 16 where theitem of interest represents any of: a best bid price, a best ask price,a moving average of the inside market, a last traded price, andcombinations thereof.
 18. The method of claim 16 where repositioning theplurality of axially aligned price levels based on the second changecomprises centering the item of interest relative to the display region.19. The method of claim 16 further comprising repositioning theplurality of price levels at a predetermined rate.
 20. The method ofclaim 19 where the predetermined rate comprises any of a fixed rate anda variable rate.
 21. The method of claim 20 where the variable ratechanges based on any of the item of interest being repositioned, alocation of the item of interest, and combinations thereof.
 22. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 16, further comprising: displaying anorder entry region comprising a plurality of order entry locations,where each order entry location of the plurality of order entry locationcorresponds to at least one of the plurality of axially aligned pricelevels; receiving a user command via at least one order entry location;and initiating placement of a trade order responsive to receiving theuser command, where the trade order comprises an order price determinedaccording to a price level corresponding to the at least one order entrylocation.
 23. The computer readable medium of claim 22 where the usercommand comprises any of selecting the at least one order entry locationvia a single action of a user input device, a single click of the userinput device, a double click of the user input device, and combinationsthereof.